Mark Keown

In the Independent in the UK 12.7.2010 reads this headline: ‘Church on brink of schism as synod votes for women bishops.’ The article explains that the C of E is on the verge of splitting over the appointment of female bishops. This past weekend, the general synod of the C of E met to discuss the issue. The church is bitterly divided with Anglo-Catholics (who like the Vatican do not approve of female Bishops), conservative and some evangelicals fighting against female bishops. On the other side are some evangelicals and liberals who hold that they can be. You can imagine the debates over the technicalities of Scripture, Paul’s teaching in 1Cor 11; 14; 1 Tim 2; Eph 5; Gal 3:28 etc. Apparently, seeking to avoid a split, the Arch Bishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams sought a middle way; namely, an amendment which through the creation of – I quote the article – ‘a proposal which would have created a special class of bishop to look after parishes which do not wish to have female bishops.’...

So here I am, sitting at the home of Pat and Kitty Brittenden in Oxford, last day in Europe 2010. What a blast! The last ten or so days have been spent in Cambridge writing and attending conferences. This year I attended the Biblical Theology Study Group and presented a paper on Christos in Paul. The prevailing view is that in Paul, Christos has become just a name for Paul and no longer carries messianic notions. I find this argument weak despite it being the consensus of all scholars except N.T. Wright. Wright argues that Christos carries the whole weight of Messiah and that when Paul uses it, he means Jesus Messiah. He goes as far as saying it should be translated 'Messiah.' I argued that in Philippians he has a case. Christos in Philippians is the centre of the letter, especially Phil 2:6-8. The Christ-pattern flows through the letter in his life, other examples and then into Phil 3. I also argued that in Romans and Galatians it carries the same sort of strength. There ...

Our time in London was spent at East Grinstead at the lovely home of Emma’s cousin on her Dad’s side, Sue. Sue and Tom live in a picture postcard home near East Grinstead at Dorman’s Park. Tom Cruise and Peter Andre among others have homes here, so it is rather a nice area. I have never stayed in such a nice place. The pattern of family generosity continued as they took us out and about to a lovely Italian restaurant near Harrods followed by a drink in the Harrods’s bar, to a lovely Spanish restaurant in East Grinstead just up the road, and generally made our life wonderful. We had our own bedroom, ensuite in one of the two wings of the home. Tom and Sue have worked really hard for what they have. They both began at the bottom and Tom worked his way up. His is a great story of character and determination. He grafted hard in his early years working for a wood company. Twice others saw his character and grit and offered him opportunities. He has done really well, owning this propert...

As I have been working on a new project on Mark's Gospel, I have noted something in the OT which rings true. Israel after entering the land functioned with a kind of limited democracy, without a king, with 12 Tribes sharing power, the ark moving from tribe to tribe. Yet, as we read Judges the whole thing disintergrated. Israel went into a cycle of sin - despair- deliverance - peace - sin again. Leaders rose up who would bring salvation, yet as the narrative flows they fall deeper and deeper into self destruction through idolatry and sin. The leadership system of the Judges failed completely. They thus cried out for a king, a kind of leadership system with one ruler. He was meant to be compassionate and good as is YHWH while preserving Israel's purity and fidelity to the covenant. Yet over time the monarchy disintergrated, Israel split, went down the tubes, and was in complete despair. The monarchy too failed. Then they returned from exile and leadership fell into the hands ...

We leave England tomorrow. This has been the 'family' phase of the trip. We have stayed with family in Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Carmarthen, Cardiff and East Grinstead (south of London). We have been overwhelmed with hospitality; food, drink, sights, the works. Ireland is in an interesting phase in its history economically and spiritually. They experienced a massive boom after entering the EU. however, the locals believe that they completely overcooked the whole thing. People investing wildly, banks backing any and every investment. What goes up, must come down! Once the economic boom ended, Ireland have crashed. There are few investments, businesses are under pressure, many have closed, unemployment is up, and they are very pessimistic. Whereas they delighted in being in the EU, they now are wondering. They are now expected to give assistance to poorer countries and they are not really able to. The problem for Ireland is that they don't really have any economic edge. Farmer...

What a first full day in Patmos. We set out to see the cave of apokylipsis (revelation) where John and his disciple Prochorus (traditionally one of the 70 in Luke 10 and 7 deacons in Acts 6) lived for about 5 years after being exiled by Domitian from Ephesus. Certainly is feasible. Domitian was big in Ephesus with a temple dedicated to him and the Imperial Cult big there at the time. The cave clearly has legendary elements like a nook in the wall where he supposely laid his head and another where he supposedly put his hand to lever himself up. There is also a three fold crack in the roof from where God traditionally spoke. All this aside, it is not out of the question that John was there. For me it is far more likely than the house we visited in Ephesus was Mary's house. The house is about 7km up a hill from the site. Mary would have been about 80-100 at the time and so it is very unlikely she would have lived there. We visited the Monastery of St John the theologian. Wonderful p...

My experience of Turkey had some positives. We met many nice people, the hotels were very good in the main, and people were very helpful and friendly in getting around by bus, train or other means. The public transport is great and very very cheap. However, it is over-priced which surprised us. We expected cheaper food etc, it was cheaper than NZ or Greece, but a meal out was still expensive. A Turkish lira is about the same as and Kiwi dollar and things were similarly priced in the main. We did not enjoy the cities aside from the sites. Istanbul was chaos. Izmir was described by a travel agent in NZ as a toxic waste dump and they were not wrong. We saw one ‘river’ which was green polluted goo. Disgusting. You can see the photo on my facebook page. The men were appalling in both Izmir and Istanbul, eyeing Emma up continually. She had a terrible experience of a guy offering to show her the way back to the hotel but he had a plan B in mind. Emma got away but was shaken up. Clearly ma...